Learn secrets of Everett on a walk back in time

Everett Theatre Sign, 2911 Colby Ave.: A fire at the theatre had one bright spot. The renovations after the fire included the addition of a charming Renaissance Revival facade. The site is one stop on a history tour of downtown Everett.

Courtesy of the Everett Public Library

Spudnuts, 3016 Colby Ave.: The doughnut shop was a favorite for locals. It operated from 1949 until 1971. There's no trace of it left.

Courtesy of the Everett Public Library

Safeway, 2708 Colby Ave. This site used to be the home of Safeway. Some of the architectural character of the building survives today.

Courtesy of the Everett Public Library

Star Theatre, 1810 Hewitt Ave.: This photo was taken around 1912. Scandinavian immigrant Alexander Singelow left the saloon business to become a motion picture exhibitor at the theater. He eventually became a motion picture camera man in Los Angeles.

Courtesy of the Everett Public Library

Shelton Story Pole, Wetmore & California Ave.: From 1923 to 1929 a 60-foot American Indian story pole stood right in the middle of this intersection. The pole became a problem for fire engines, which had trouble getting around it.

EVERETT -- It's easy to walk downtown streets and forget Everett is an old man of a city, with secrets, strange stories and even violence in its past.

President Teddy Roosevelt once spoke to a crowd of 15,000 on Colby Avenue. A newspaper editor shot and killed a political foe not far from a spot later known as the Free Speech Corner.

For a period in the 1920s, a 60-foot American Indian story pole stood smack in the middle of Wetmore Avenue and California Street. It eventually had to come down because city firefighters couldn't get fire engines around it.

Historian David Dilgard captured these and other fascinating tidbits in a downtown Everett walking tour you can take anytime. The audio tour and the accompanying map are available for free at the Everett Public Library's website at www.epls.org. Download the audio tour onto an MP3 player and take a walk back through time.

The tour takes a little more than an hour to complete. It starts at the library and follows a circular 2.5-mile route through downtown.

The tour includes more than 60 sites and covers subjects as varied as crime, politics, architecture and famous people.

Dilgard has led historical tours of downtown Everett for 30 years. However, he expects even the most knowledgeable locals to hear something surprising.

"I would be profoundly disappointed if anybody who took this tour didn't find something they didn't know," Dilgard said.

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